


You Weren't There

by Elri



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Steve Rogers is a little shit, but we love him anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13660602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elri/pseuds/Elri
Summary: The Commandos need to talk to Peggy about Steve





	You Weren't There

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oopsabird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oopsabird/gifts).



> This is a gift/bribe/thank you to Oopsabird for her help with my long-ass Wonder Woman fic. I was given the dialogue prompt "Normally I'd say they don't need any help defending their honor, but they're not here so- square up, mate" and decided Peggy and Steve were a good fit

“Agent Carter ma’am?”

Peggy looked up from the desk to see Bucky Barnes standing at the entrance to the room assigned as her office. It wasn’t very big but it was about equal to the ones given to the men of her rank. The door locked and there was enough room for two or three people to fit comfortably, so usually privacy and space weren’t an issue. However, behind Bucky she could see Sergeant Dugan and Private Jones, and behind them she could just about make out Morita, Falsworth, and Dernier.

There was no sign of Steve, but none of them looked concerned and the compound wasn’t panicking so it was safe to assume he was alright. She beckoned them in, waiting until the six of them had managed to squeeze together as comfortably as they could, and the door had been shut

“Gentlemen, what brings you to my office?”

Dum Dum and Bucky looked at each other, the others looked at them too. Apparently the chain of command after Steve hadn’t been totally established. That, or they were silently trying to convince each other to talk first. Peggy let the silence drag out, someone had to speak eventually, and it wouldn’t be her.

Bucky lost the battle of wills, “It’s Steve, ma’am.”

“He’s alright,” Dum Dum jumped in, “He’s not injured or anything.”

Dernier snorted, “Quite the opposite.”

“I’m guessing this has something to do with why the six of you are here and he’s not?” Peggy asked.

“Something like that,” Gabe said.

“Cap got in a fight,” Dum Dum started.

“Which isn’t out of the ordinary,” Bucky said with a smirk.

“No,” Dum Dum agreed, “And I don’t think anyone’s surprised who it was.”

“Hodge?” Peggy guessed.

“Correct, ma’am.”

“You’re right, I’m not surprised. What happened?”

“Well, that’s why we’re here,” Dum Dum explained, “he won’t say.”

“And Hodge got knocked out, so he can’t tell anyone right now either.” Bucky was still smirking, and now the others were starting to as well.

“I take it not explaining himself is the unusual part here?”

“Yes ma’am,” Bucky nodded, “Back home, whenever I had to get him out of whatever scrape he’d gotten himself into, he always had some excuse for getting into it in the first place. Not that it was always necessarily a _good_ excuse, mind you, but he always had one.”

“And none of you were there when this happened?”

“No ma’am,” Bucky confirmed, the rest of the Commandos shook their heads.

“Alright, walk me through what you know.”

This time Dum Dum took over, “We’d been running a drill when we got called in to talk with General Phillips, he wanted to go over the details from our last mission again to start planning the next one. While we were changing, Hodge came in with the rest of his unit. We greeted them, they said hello back, Hodge ignored us, the usual. Steve was having trouble finding his other sock so told us to go on ahead. We left and decided to wait at the end of the hall. A few minutes later, we hear a commotion in the locker room. We get down there, open the door, Hodge is out cold on the floor and Steve is staring down at him, fists clenched. Didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. The other guys said they weren’t paying attention but apparently Hodge whispered something to Steve who then decked him. Steve wouldn’t tell us what he said though.”

“So where is he now?” Peggy asked.

“In Colonel Phillips’ office,” Bucky told her, “Getting reprimanded or something, the Colonel sound pretty loud.”

“It is frowned upon to strike your fellow soldiers.”

“Didn’t I hear somewhere that you took a swing at Hodge the first day you met him?” Bucky’s smirk didn’t fade under Peggy’s stern look.

“That was a reprimand. Besides, I thought Hodge’s behavior had been improving.”

“Well he’s not as rude about women as he used to be,” Dernier said.

“And he hasn’t said anything stupid to me or Gabe,” Jim added.

“That being said, he’s still a far cry from being a gentleman.” Falsworth concluded, the others nodding in agreement.

“I see. So why are you coming to me about this?”

“Well we haven’t gotten a chance to talk to Steve,” Bucky told her, “So we figured maybe you could get in there somehow and help sort this thing out. I know he’s not great at listening to common sense but he respects you so maybe you can get through his thick head.”

“Easier said than done.”

Bucky grinned, “You don’t have to tell me that, ma’am,” he added.

“Once he’s done being reprimanded by Colonel Phillips, tell him to stop by my office. I have a feeling the Colonel will want to wait for heads to cool before trying to plan anything.”

“Yes ma’am,” Dum Dum nodded, “thank you.” The other Commandos voiced their thanks as well and took their leave.”

 Shortly after, there was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” Peggy called, not looking up from the papers she was reading.

Steve walked in, “You wanted to see me?”

“Shut the door and have a seat.” He complied and Peggy finished the page she was on before setting it down and looking up, “Your team asked me to talk to you about the fight you got into with Private Hodge. Though I’m not really sure it can be called a fight when it starts and ends with one person knocking out the other.”

“We had a…disagreement.” Steve conceded, obviously trying not to look pleased with himself.

“I certainly hope it wasn’t over something frivolous.”

“He and I have different views on what is and isn’t appropriate to say about the women we work with.”

“Oh no.” Peggy pinched the bridge of her nose, seeing where this was going. “Steve, what did he say?”

“He may have insinuated that I could find my sock, as well as the rest of the men’s, in your quarters.”

“I am more than capable of defending my own honor, Steve.”

“I know, but you weren’t there, so I just did what I thought you would do in that situation.”

Peggy opened her eyes and glared. It was about as effective on Steve’s grin as it had been on Bucky.

“Did you tell Colonel Phillips this?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And what did he say?”

“Well he lectured me on not being stupid, told me not to let it happen again, and said he’d remind Hodge about respect for fellow agents.”

“You are incorrigible,” Peggy told him, fighting down her smile.

“Yes ma’am.” Steve gave her that boy-scout smile, the one that said he knew he was being a little shit, and she cracked, laughing a little as she smiled back. “Was there anything else you needed ma’am?”

“No, I think that will be quite all.” They both stood and Peggy walked around the desk to give him a kiss on the cheek, “Next time, try not to knock him out.”

“Next time I’ll come get you and let you handle it yourself.”

“Deal.”


End file.
